This is a second wave of ads from the group. Cravaack was among the congressional incumbents who benefitted from a $1 million ad campaign AAN paid for over the summer.

If AAN’s name sounds familiar, that’s because it was started by a familiar Minnesota Republican. After losing a drawn-out battle to regain his U.S. Senate seat, Norm Coleman helped launch the group, and he remains chairman of the group’s board despite his new role as special adviser to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

AAN is a 501(c)(4). In plain English, that means it’s a non-profit group that is technically meant to advocate for issues; no more than half of its activity can be political. Such groups are attractive to big donors because, in most cases, the organizations don’t have to disclose their support.

About the blogger

Catharine Richert covers politics for MPR News, and writes PoliGraph, a fact-checking feature that gets behind the spin in Minnesota politics. She has also contributed to MPR’s coverage of the federal health care overhaul. Catharine joined the MPR newsroom in 2011 after finishing a master’s degree at the U of M’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Previously, Catharine worked for PolitiFact.com and Congressional Quarterly. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and son.